Sri Caitanya – caritamrta Adi lila 1.16

Çré Caitanya-caritämåta, Ädi-lélä 1.16

Srila Prabhupada
—
Mäyäpur, April 9, 1975

Santoña: "In a temple of jewels in Våndävana, underneath a desire tree, Çré Çré Rädhä-Govinda, served by Their most confidential associates, sit upon an effulgent throne. I offer my humble obeisances unto Them."

Prabhupäda:

dévyad-våndäraëya-kalpa-drumädhah-
çrémad-ratnägära-siàhäsana-sthau
çrémad-rädhä-çréla-govinda-devau
preñöälébhiù sevyamänau smarämi
[Cc. Ädi 1.16]

So, description of Våndävana, Våndävana and Rädhä and Kåñëa situated there. The Våndävana... Vana means forest, and vånda means tulasé. Mostly there are tulasé plants and other trees also, but all the trees are living desire trees, spiritual. They can serve Kåñëa in any way, desire. They have become trees by their voluntary desire. They're all spiritual beings—there is no force—but everyone has got a particular tendency to serve Kåñëa in a different way. So these trees and plants, they are also living beings. They are not ordinary living beings, but they have decided to serve Kåñëa by supplying fruits and flowers. They want that service. Everyone has got his particular propensity. So someone is serving as the land there, someone is serving as the throne, someone is serving as the supplying agent of fruits and flowers, someone is engaged in His service as the gopés, confidential servitors. The cows, calves, everything—they are all different living entities. They are not made of these material things, material body. Änanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhävitäbhis täbhir ya eva nija-rüpatayä kaläbhiù [Bs. 5.37]. They are all also expansion of Kåñëa's pleasure potency. In one sense they are also Kåñëa; they are not different from Kåñëa. Çakti-çaktimatayor abheda: "The power and the powerful, they are not different, identical." Just like the sun and the sunshine. So in the sun globe there is heat and light, and the sunshine, there is heat and light. So, so far heat and light is concerned, they are one. Similarly, Kåñëa and Kåñëa's pleasure potency, änanda-cinmaya, ahlädiné... It is already described, rädhä kåñëa-praëaya-vikåtir hlädiné-çaktir asmät.

So whatever description is there of Våndävana, that is expansion of Kåñëa's pleasure potency. They are not different. Therefore in the beginning it is said, dévyad, "shining," or "divine," "transcendental." So we should not consider Våndävana as ordinary forest. Here we have got Våndävana on this planet. That is also not ordinary forest. The exactly the same Våndävana as it is Goloka Våndävana... There is no difference. Therefore Narottama däsa Öhäkura says that

viñaya chäòiyä kabe çuddha ha 'be mana
kabe häma herabo, çré-våndävana
Viñaya chäòiyä.

Our present position is that we are materially diseased, so we have to become free from the material disease. Material disease means sense gratification, and the most formidable disease is sex. This is called material disease. So viñaya chäòiyä. We have to be, become free from the contamination of viñaya, material enjoyment. This is the statement of Narottama däsa Öhäkura.

viñaya chäòiyä kabe çuddha ha 'be mana
kabe häma herabo çré-våndävana

"When my mind will be cleansed of all material desires, then I shall be able to see what is Våndävana." It is very difficult to see Våndävana with material desires. Bhakti means the first qualification is to become free from all material desires.

Sarvopädhi-vinirmuktam.
sarvopädhi-vinirmuktaà
tat-paratvena nirmalam
håñékena håñékeça-
sevanaà bhaktir ucyate
[Cc. Madhya 19.170]

anyäbhiläñitä-çünyaà
jïäna-karmädy-anävåtam
änukülyena kåñëänu-
çélanaà bhaktir uttama
[Brs. 1.1.11]

You know all these definition of bhakti given in our Nectar of Devotion. So spiritual life means free from material desires. And material desires mean just to hanker after sense gratification. This is material desire. When we have no more desire for sense gratification, then we should think that we are on the spiritual platform.

So this description of Våndävana is spiritually described; therefore in the beginning the word is used, dévyad. Dévyad means divine. Kåñëa says, janma karma ca me divyam [Bg. 4.9]. This is not ordinary material thing. So desire tree also described in the Brahma-saàhitä: Cintämaëi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-våkña [Bs. 5.29]—the same kalpa-våkña-lakñävåteñu surabhér abhipälayantam, lakñmé-sahasra-çata-sambhrama-sevyamänam. This lakñmé-sahasra-çata-sevyamänam is described here as preñöhälébhiù sevyamänau. Preñöha-älébhiù. Preñöha means very dear, and älé means gopés, associates of Rädhäräëé, friends. So they are all Lakñmés, goddess of fortune. Lakñmé... You have heard the name Lakñmé, Lakñmé-Näräyaëa, associates of Näräyaëa. Kåñëa is Näräyaëa. So all these gopés, they are expansion of Çrématé Rädhäräëé, the original Lakñmé. This is spiritual world. It is not impersonal, neither niräkära, formless. Everything form, but that form is different from this form. That form is sat-cid-änanda form—eternal, full of bliss, full of knowledge. This is not this material form. When we speak of formless, that means without any material form. Formless does not mean Kåñëa and His expansion, they are formless. They are not of material form. Aprakåta, not material. Here everything is prakåta. It is not, neither, eternal nor blissful nor full of knowledge. It is temporary, full of ignorance and always miserable, this form. We can understand it.

So that is just opposite. This form is temporary. Everyone knows this form will be finished. Antavanta ime dehä [Bg. 2.18], Kåñëa says. This body is antavat. Antavat means it will be finished. It grew at a certain date, and it will increase, it will stay, then it will dwindle, then it will produce some by-products and then vanish. This is called ñaò-vikära, six kinds of changes of the material body. Of the spiritual body there is no such change. That is the difference between spiritual body and material body. Therefore it is called sat. Sat means eternal; there is no change. Just like Kåñëa. His body is sac-cid-änanda; therefore He never grows old. You'll never find a picture of Kåñëa that He has grown old. No. There is no change. Advaitam acyutam anädim ananta-rüpam ädyaà puräëa-puruñam [Bs. 5.33]. Puräëa-puruñam means the oldest person. Because Kåñëa is the origin of everything... Sometimes they consider, "Because God is very old, therefore He must have big, big beard and..." That is imagination. Here you find the real description of God: advaitam acyutam anädim ananta-rüpam ädyam [Bs. 5.33], "Original," Puräëa-puruñam, "the oldest of all," nava-yauvanaà ca, "but His bodily feature is just like a fresh young man." That is Kåñëa. You'll never find Kåñëa... Kåñëa, when He was in the battlefield of Kurukñetra, He was a great-grandfather, but you'll find a young boy. That is Kåñëa. So that is eternal.
Now our body is not sat. Kåñëa's body is sat, cid, änanda. Our, this material body—asat. And because we have got... Asat means temporary, that will not exist. And because we have accepted this material body, therefore we are full of anxiety. Ultimately, what is our anxiety? We are always trying to... This is called struggle for existence, survival of the fittest. So we are trying to become the fittest, to exist. But that is not possible in this body. That is not possible, because it is asat; it is not sat. And because the struggle is that we want to exist in this body, therefore there is anxiety. Asad-grahät sadä samudvigna-dhiyäm asad-grahät [SB 7.5.5]. The çästra says that we are always full of anxieties. Why? Now, asad-grahät: "We have accepted this body, which will not exist." Asad-grahät. These are facts. Study çästra in that way. Why we are full of anxiety? Because we have accepted this body.

So our main business is how to get out of this entanglement of this temporary body. The people are not very seriously thinking, neither they have got sufficient knowledge how the temporary body is obtained, how it is changed, another temporary body, and there are 8,400,000 different forms of body, and we are changing one after another. Why this disease? "If I am, my position is, as I understand from Bhagavad-gétä, na hanyate hanyamäne çarére [Bg. 2.20]—I am not destroyed after the destruction of this body—why I am in this position that I have to change my body?" Tathä dehäntara-präptiù [Bg. 2.13]. This is intelligence. When you come to this intelligence, then athäto brahma jijïäsä; then the inquiry about spiritual life begins. But unfortunately, we are in such a civilization that we have no time to think of this great dangerous position of changing body one after another, and we have accepted it that "There is no remedy; we have to change or die for good." These theories, this ignorance, is going on, and Kåñëa consciousness movement is the only movement which is trying to educate man to this standard of knowledge, that he may at least think that "I am not this body, as I understand from the çästras. I am within the body. So how I can become free of this material body?" That is our real problem. Janma-måtyu-jarä-vyädhi-duùkha-doñänudarçanam [Bg. 13.9].

So if we take it very seriously, then we become gradually advanced and eligible or fit candidate to go into the spiritual world—dévyad-våndäraëya-kalpa-drumädhaù. We can go there. That is wanted. Be serious. Don't be misled by the allurement of mäyä. Remain strong. And then, in this life, you'll be able to become fit candidate to go back to home, back to Godhead. Dévyad-våndäranya-kalpa-drumädhaù. You'll also be one of the associates of Kåñëa, as you desire. Kåñëa will give you the opportunity to serve Him as you desire. If you want to serve Him as a gopé, you'll get that position. If you want to serve Him as cowherds boyfriend, you'll get that opportunity. If you want to serve Kåñëa following the footsteps of mother Yaçodä, accepting Kåñëa as your son, you'll get it. Accepting Kåñëa as your son, Nanda Mahäräja following... We have to follow their principles, not that "I shall become Nanda Mahäräja" or "I shall become Yaçodä," "I shall..." No, that is Mäyäväda. You have to follow how they are loving Kåñëa. You have to learn that. Then you'll get the chance of Kåñëa's association.

Dévyad-våndäraëya-kalpa-drumädhaù, preñöälébhiù sevyamänau smarämi. The Gauòéya Vaiñëava, generally, following the footsteps of Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu, they aspire to become one of the assistants of the gopés. There are others also who like to be the assistants of the cowherd boys. So our Gosvämés, Rüpa Gosvämé, çré rüpa sanätana bhaööa raghunätha, they were all the assistants of the gopés. Gopé-bhäva-rasämåtäbdhi-laharé-kallola-magnau muhur vande rüpa-sanätanau raghu-yugau çré-jéva-gopälakau. These six Gosvämés, rüpa sanätana bhaööa raghunätha çré jéva gopäla bhaööa däsa raghunätha, they were all very, very big men, not ordinary men—ministers, zamindars, learned scholars. They were not ordinary men. And they gave up everything. Tyaktvä türëam açeña-maëòala-pati-çreëéà sadä tucchavat. Just like Rüpa Gosvämé, Sanätana Gosvämé, he was, they were ministers in the government of Hussain Shah.

Raghunätha däsa Gosvämé was the only son of his father and uncle, very, very big zamindar, landholder. Twelve lakhs of rupees' income. Five hundred years twelve lakhs—twelve crores now. He was so rich man. Similarly, Gopäla Bhaööa Gosvämé, Çréla Jéva Gosvämé, they were very, very learned. Jéva Gosvämé was the nephew of Rüpa Gosvämé, very learned scholar. So either scholar, rich men, big politician—all of them gave up their occupational, material occupational duty and joined Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu in His saìkértana movement. So they were always absorbed in the gopés' activities, always thinking. Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu was always thinking of Çrématé Rädhäräëé's activities, and the Gosvämés, they were also thinking of the gopés' activities. Gopés' activities means to assist Çrémad-Rädhäräëé how to serve Kåñëa. Preñöälébhiù sevyamänau. They are always ready.
So in this way there is the description of the spiritual world. You just have a glimpse of the spiritual world, how they are perpetually enjoying blissful life with full knowledge. That is described here. Dévyad-våndäraëya-kalpa-drumädhah-çrémad ratnägära-siàhäsana-sthau. There the siàhäsana, the throne, that is also spiritual. That is not material. Everything spiritual. Simply in different capacity they are serving. There the water is also spiritual. So this spiritual realization, if we get the opportunity fortunate enough, then naturally we shall aspire to enter into the spiritual world. Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura said, kåñëera saàsära kara chäòi' anäcära: "If you want to enter into this association of spiritual kingdom, then practice here the family of Kåñëa." Just like here we are trying to be family members of Kåñëa. Here Kåñëa is sitting, Rädhä-Mädhava is sitting on the throne. He is the enjoyer, and we are trying to serve Him so that He may very nicely enjoy. This is called Kåñëa family-center, Kåñëa. Just like in ordinary family the head man is there, and he is the chief man, and all other—his wife, children, servants, and other friends, associates, even animals, cats, dogs, cows—everyone is serving the center point, master. Similarly, our Kåñëa family means Kåñëa is the master, and He is the supreme enjoyer. Bhoktäraà yajïa-tapasäà sarva-loka-maheçvaram [Bg. 5.29]. And if we understand this point, that Kåñëa is the center, He is the enjoyer, and we are meant for serving Him for His enjoyment, that is Kåñëa family….

Mukunda-mala-stotra

SUTRA 4
TEXT

naham vande tava caranayor dvandvam advandva-hetoh
kumbhipakam gurum api hare narakam napanetum
ramya-rama-mrdu-tanu-lata nandane napi rantum
bhave bhave hrdaya-bhavane bhavayeyam bhavantam


SYNONYMS

na--not; aham--I; vande--pray; tava--Your; caranayoh--of the lotus feet; dvandvam--to the pair; advandva--of release from duality; hetoh--for the reason; kumbhipakam--the planet of boiling oil; gurum--most severe; api--either; hare--O Hari; narakam--hell; na--not; apanetum--to avoid; ramya--very beautiful; rama--of the fair sex; mrdu--soft; tanu-lata--of creeperlike bodies; nandane--in the pleasure gardens of heaven; na api--nor; rantum--to enjoy; bhave bhave--in various rebirths; hrdaya--of my heart; bhavane--within the house; bhavayeyam--may I concentrate; bhavantam--on You.

TRANSLATION

O Lord Hari, it is not to be saved from the dualities of material existence or the grim tribulations of the Kumbhipaka hell that I pray to Your lotus feet. Nor is my purpose to enjoy the soft-skinned beautiful women who reside in the gardens of heaven. I pray to Your lotus feet only so that I may remember You alone in the core of my heart, birth after birth.

PURPORT

There are two classes of men: the atheists and the theists. The atheists have no faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead, while the theists have various degrees of faith in Him.

The atheists are faithless on account of their many misdeeds in their present and past lives. They fall into four categories: (1) the gross materialists, (2) the immoral sinners, (3) the number-one fools, and (4) those who are bewildered by maya despite their mundane erudition. No one among these four classes of atheist ever believes in the Supreme Personality of Godhead, what to speak of offering prayers unto His lotus feet.

The theists, on the other hand, have faith in the Lord and pray to Him with various motives. One attains such a theistic life not by chance but as a result of performing many pious acts in both the present life and the past life. Such pious men also belong to four categories: (1) the needy, (2) those who have fallen into difficulty, (3) those who are inquisitive about the transcendental science, and (4) the genuine philosophers. The philosophers and those who are inquisitive are better than those in categories (1) and (2). But a pure devotee is far above these four classes of pious men, for he is in the transcendental position.

The needy pious man prays to God for a better standard of life, and the pious man who has fallen into material difficulty prays in order to get rid of his trouble. But the inquisitive man and the philosopher do not pray to God for amelioration of mundane problems. They pray for the ability to know Him as He is, and they try to reach Him through science and logic. Such pious men are generally known as theosophists.

Needy pious men pray to God to improve their economic condition because all they know is sense gratification, while those in difficulty ask Him to free them from a hellish life of tribulations. Such ignorant people do not know the value of human life. This life is meant to prepare one to return to the absolute world, the kingdom of God.

A pure devotee is neither a needy man, a man fallen into difficulty, nor an empiric philosopher who tries to approach the Divinity on the strength his own imperfect knowledge. A pure devotee receives knowledge of the Divinity from the right source--the disciplic succession of realized souls who have followed strictly the disciplinary method of devotional service under the guidance of bona fide spiritual masters. It is not possible to know the transcendental nature of the Divinity by dint of one's imperfect sense perception, but the Divinity reveals Himself to a pure devotee in proportion to the transcendental service rendered unto Him.

King Kulasekhara is a pure devotee, and as such he is not eager to improve himself by the standards of the empiric philosophers, distressed men, or fruitive workers of this world. Pious acts may lead a mundane creature toward the path of spiritual realization, but practical activity in the domain of devotional service to the Lord need not wait for the reactions of pious acts. A pure devotee does not think in terms of his personal gain or loss because he is fully surrendered to the Lord. He is concerned only with the service of the Lord and always engages in that service, and for this reason his heart is the Lord's home. The Lord being absolute, there is no difference between Him and His service. A pure devotee's heart is always filled with ideas about executing the Lord's service, which is bestowed upon the pure devotee through the transparent medium of the spiritual master.

The spiritual master in the authoritative line of disciplic succession is the "son of God," or in other words the Lord's bona fide representative. The proof that he is bona fide is his invincible faith in God, which protects him from the calamity of impersonalism. An impersonalist cannot be a bona fide spiritual master, for such a spiritual master's only purpose in life must be to render service to the Lord. He preaches the message of Godhead as the Lord's appointed agent and has nothing to do with sense gratification or the mundane wrangling of the impersonalists. No one can render devotional service to an impersonal entity because such service implies a reciprocal personal relationship between the servant and the master. In the impersonal school the so-called devotee is supposed to merge with the Lord and lose his separate existence.

Pure devotees like King Kulasekhara are particularly careful to avoid a process that will end in their becoming one with the existence of the Lord, a state known as advandva, nonduality. This is simply spiritual suicide. Out of the five kinds of salvation, advandva is the most abominable for a devotee. A pure devotee denounces such oneness with the Lord as worse than going to hell.

As His separated expansions, the living beings are part and parcel of the Lord. The Lord expands Himself into plenary parts and separated parts to enjoy transcendental pastimes, and if a living being refuses to engage in these transcendental blissful pastimes, he is at liberty to merge into the Absolute. This is something like a son's committing suicide instead of living with his father according to the rules the father sets down. By committing suicide, the son thus sacrifices the happiness he could have enjoyed by engaging in a filial loving relationship with his father and enjoying his father's estate. A pure devotee persistently avoids such a criminal policy, and King Kulasekhara is guiding us to avoid this pitfall.

The king also says that the reason he is praying to the Lord is not to be saved from the Kumbhipaka hell. Laborers in gigantic iron and steel mills suffer tribulations similar to those in the Kumbhipaka hell. Kumbhi means "pot," and paka means "boiling." So if a person were put into a pot of oil and the pot were set to boiling, he would have some idea of the suffering in Kumbhipaka hell.

There are innumerable hellish engagements in the modern so-called civilization, and by the grace of the Lord's illusory energy people think these hellish engagements are a great fortune. Modern industrial factories fully equipped with up-to-date machines are so many Kumbhipaka hells, and the organizers of these enterprises regard them as indispensable for the advancement of economic welfare. The mass of laborers exploited by the organizers directly experience the "welfare" conditions in these factories, but what the organizers do not know is that by the law of karma they will in due time become laborers in similar Kumbhipaka hells.

Intelligent persons certainly want to be saved from such Kumbhipaka hells, and they pray to God for this benediction. But a pure devotee does not pray in this way. A pure devotee of Narayana looks equally upon the happiness enjoyed in heaven, the transcendental bliss of becoming one with the Lord, and the tribulations experienced in the Kumbhipaka hell. He is not concerned with any of them because he is always engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. By the grace of the Lord, even in the Kumbhipaka hell a pure devotee can adjust the situation and turn it into Vaikuntha.

The Bhagavad-gita and all other revealed scriptures say that the Lord accompanies every living being in His localized aspect of Paramatma, the Supersoul. Therefore even a living being destined to reside in the Kumbhipaka hell is accompanied by his eternal companion, the Lord. But by His inconceivable power the Lord remains aloof from these hellish circumstances, just as the sky remains separate from the air although seemingly mixed with it.

Similarly, the pure devotee of the Lord does not live anywhere in this material world, although He appears to live among mundane creatures. Actually, the devotee lives in Vaikuntha. In this way the Supreme Lord bestows upon His pure devotee the inconceivable power that allows him to stay aloof from all mundane circumstances and reside eternally in the spiritual world. The devotee does not want this power consciously or unconsciously, but the Lord is careful about His devotee, just as a mother is always careful about her little child, who is completely dependent on her care.

A pure devotee like King Kulasekhara refuses to associate with beautiful soft-skinned women. There are different grades of women on different planets in the universe. Even on the earth there are different types of women who are enjoyed by different types of men. But on higher planets there are women many, many millions of times more beautiful than the women on this planet, and there are also many pleasure abodes where they can be enjoyed. The best of all of these is the Nandana Gardens on Svargaloka. In the Nandana Gardens--a "Garden of Eden"--those who are qualified can enjoy varieties of beautiful women called Apsaras. The demigods generally enjoy the company of the Apsaras in the same way that the great Mogul kings and nawabs enjoyed their harems. But these kings and nawabs are like straw before the demigods of Svargaloka, which lies in the third stratum of the universe.

The inner tendency to enjoy is in the core of every living being's heart. But in the diseased state of material existence the living being misuses that tendency. The more he increases this diseased, conditioned state, the longer he extends his period of material existence. The sastras advise, therefore, that a living entity should accept only those sense-enjoyable objects necessary for the upkeep of the material body and reject those that are just for sense gratification. In this way he will reduce the tendency for sense enjoyment. This restraint cannot be imposed by force; it must be voluntary.

Such restraint automatically develops in the course of one's executing devotional service. Thus one who is already engaged in devotional service need not restrain his senses artificially. A pure devotee like King Kulasekhara, therefore, neither desires sense enjoyment nor exerts himself to restrain his senses; rather, he tries only to engage himself in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, without any stop.